Question

Ping is sewing a square tablecloth. The table she wants to cover is 5.5 feet on each side and she wants it to hang over on each side 9 inches. How many square feet of fabric will Ping need?

I've answered this question in two ways and I think I get to the right answer the second time but it's driving me crazy why it doesn't work the first way.

First way:
The cloth is now a rectangle length 66 in (5.5 feet x 12) by 75 in (5.5 feet x 12, plus 9).
a=l*w=66x75=4950 inches÷12 =412.5 sq ft.


Checking my answer for reasonableness, I thought, but if I just multiply 5.5 feet x 5.5 feet , sans adjustments, I get 30.25.

Second way: 9 inches/12 = .75 ft 5.5+.75 = 6.25 ft, and 5.5 x 6.25 ft = 34.375 SQ ft, makes much more sense. But WHY?

Answer 1

The first way is rectangular. You also converted it wrong for the first one. the inches aren's squared. you're converting regular inches into regular feet, instead it should be square inches into square feet.

And Ping is sewing a square tablecloth, not a rectangular one. you have to add the 9 inches on both sides, not just one. You can convert it either way you want, but you have to add the 9 inches to both.